


I'm Here, You're Back

by Thunderrrstruck



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Coffee, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Love, Pepperony - Freeform, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Rekindling Relations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:48:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23791072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thunderrrstruck/pseuds/Thunderrrstruck
Summary: Pepper and Tony have been calling each other in hopes they can repair their divide – civil, comforting calls made with the agreement on remaining platonic. It doesn't seem like either party involved wants it to stay that way. [Set Post-Civil War]
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Comments: 3
Kudos: 37





	I'm Here, You're Back

**Author's Note:**

> This was going to be another instalment of my daemon!verse, buuuuut... it was just too perfect in it's raw form. I love Pepperony, and I'm so glad they're both happy in canon with their two children and Gerald the alpaca in the yard and taking care of Nebula and having dinners with the Rhodeys ever Saturday!
> 
> (I'm get very excited when it comes to Pepperony, so please note that this was proof-read once - maybe an additional half - time)

“Pepper–.” _That won’t_ do. He stops before he can release a tangent. He shifts the phone over his ear, trying to find the sweet spot (as if there was one spot to cure his roadblock), and tries again. “Just call me back, okay?”

He hangs up. _First time for everything_ , he muses. After so many calls to her the past week – civil calls, comfort calls – he loses his tongue in the face of actually losing her, so he has to make _this_ message quick. The quicker it is, the faster the repair. Surviving without her isn’t what he wants. He can only hope she doesn't wants that either; he is sick and tired of acting in a forceful light. He has always been an immovable object surrounded by unstoppable forces. Cap, Ross, they force, he resists, and his mind swims in doubt. Howard, even Rhodey at times. Even Pepper. _I'm too obstinate_ , he thinks, _I don't listen_.

“Tony,” Rhodey speaks from the doorframe. Tony glances up, expressionless. “There’s someone downstairs for you.”

“Can they wait?” he groans. “I have a million meetings this afternoon already that I don’t want to go to.”

“This person can’t,” Rhodey says. “She’s… on a very tight schedule.”

Heaving a massive sigh, half of the weight added for extra effect (just so Rhodey _knows_ how much he doesn’t want to go down to meet some new government official asking about his plans to repair and rekindle), Tony swings around the corner and hastens to the steps. Once he’s down, he notes the figure with as short a glance he can manage before stationing himself by the coffee machine, his back to whatever official waits for him today (no doubt ready to reprimand him with an arsenal of all his past mistakes).

“We try to keep business hours between one and two every day,” he quips dryly over his shoulder, watching too intently as he punches some buttons on the machine to notice that she’s turning around.

“A.M. or P.M.?” she asks. The click, click, click of her heels–

The voice.

Tony spares a glance over his shoulder. His heart stops.

“Pep.” He cannot seem to close his eyes. “I guess, P.M."

She glances at the clock on the wall before settling her illuminating gaze right back into position: locked with his own black-ringed eyes. "It's three P.M. right now."

"I, uh, I'll squeeze you in. How– How’s the company?"

She breaks contact for the coffee pot.

“I couldn’t just call you on the phone again. I wanted to talk in person.” Her voice is just as soft as he remembers. He wants to take her someplace where he can compare its softness with the softness of pillows and blankets… Just the two of them.

“Right. When has talking been good,” he mumbles, heart sinking. “Coffee?”

She ignores the baseless offer – filler words, he knows – and swings her bag in front of her.

“These two months away,–” she begins.

“Let me just ask, before the suspense kills me: is this a good talk or a bad talk? What should I be prepared for?”

“Tony, just.. let me get through this. I’m can’t just _talk_ , like you.”

He sucks it up with a sucked in breath.

“These last two months, the exciting, the boring,” she tries again. “The calls, the attempts to build our way up from nothing. It’s not working.” Tony has a million things he wants to say, and a billion more bursts of emotion, but he bites his tongue hard to abide by Pepper’s wish: uninterrupted. Just this once. “We can't build up from nothing. I can't forget everything that's happened, because... it's part of this– us."

"Are you... what are you saying?"

"Staying away’s too hard.”

When she doesn’t say another word for over three seconds, he takes this as the end of her speech.

"So, you're–."

“Breaking off the break,” she says, slightly smirking now, “not you.”

She shakes her head, a little smile stretching over her lips like the first one of hers he saw stepping off that jet in 2010. _Tears for your long lost boss?_ But _she_ is the boss now. _She_ is the one coming home. _Tears of joy_. He hates the idea of moving on.

She’s close, closer than Tony is to the coffee machine. About a foot, if Tony’s spacial awareness is any bit as good as it has always been. He smirks, unable to break eye contact from those swimming pool eyes.

“Welcome back, Ms. Potts,” he says, feeling a couple years younger.

She leans across the six inches to press a soft kiss on his lips. She pulls back to reply, “Why, thank you, Mr. Stark.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked what you read, let me know in a comment. :)


End file.
